1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resist solution supply apparatus, a resist solution supply method, and a computer storage medium each for supplying a resist solution to a coating nozzle for discharging the resist solution to a substrate, for example, a semiconductor wafer or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a photolithography process in manufacturing processes of a semiconductor device, for example, a resist coating treatment of applying a resist solution onto, for example, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a “wafer”) to form a resist film is performed.
In the above-described resist coating treatment, for example, a method of discharging the resist solution from a coating nozzle onto the wafer and rotating the wafer to thereby diffuse the resist solution over the wafer front surface, that is, a so-called spin coating method is widely used. In this spin coating method, the temperature of the resist solution to be discharged onto the wafer needs to be regulated to a desired temperature, for example, room temperature in order to apply the resist solution in a uniform thickness on the wafer.
Hence, it has been conventionally proposed that a first temperature regulating unit is provided along a supply tube for supplying the resist solution to the coating nozzle near the coating nozzle (near an end portion of the supply tube) to regulate the temperature of the resist solution to room temperature. The first temperature regulating unit can regulate the temperature of the resist solution, for example, by passing a temperature regulating water through the first temperature regulating unit. Further, to efficiently perform the temperature regulation of the resist solution, a second temperature regulating unit for performing temperature regulation of the resist solution is further provided near the other end portion of the supply tube to supply the temperature regulating water used in the first temperature regulating unit to the second temperature regulating unit (Japanese Patent No. 3585217).